Before & After: A West Coast Renovation That Was Meant to Be

In Pacific Grove, California, the housing market is fiercely competitive due to the oceanside location, amazing schools and small town feel. Erin, a lifestyle blogger and interior stylist, and Matthew Conway, a CALFire Fire Captain, wanted a house in Pacific Grove for the school options for their son, Finnegan, who has autism. All of the offers they made on houses over the course of a year were rejected — including the house they now own. “We found our home the day it hit the market and offered the same hour we saw it, along with 3 other offers. We were rejected. The highest bidder was 50k more than us. Our Realtor convinced the seller to put us in the back-up position in case the deal fell through. We wrote her a letter explaining why this town and school district meant so much to us, so she gladly gave us the back-up position,” Erin shares. “A month went by and we lost hope and kept searching. Then the call came. The offer fell through–It was ours. There were actually a handful of more crazy and unlikely factors that went into this deal falling into place. All that matters is at the end of the day getting this home felt like fate, so we named her, Kismet.”

Getting the home was just the first obstacle. The house needed a lot of cosmetic work to be updated and livable. Before Erin, Matthew and Finnegan moved in, they replaced flooring, removed the popcorn ceiling, opened the wall between the family room and dining room, fixed drywall and stripped wallpaper. Erin’s eye for interior design and Matthew’s sweat equity on his days off of work have transformed their house into a home layered in color, texture and style. “The process of fixing this home up is far from done. We haven’t touched the upstairs or the kitchen. We are DIYers and have a limited budget, so once we did the first huge overhaul prior to move in, everything else is slow and steady. When we accomplish a goal and scratch it off of that mile long to-do list, damn it feels good,” Erin laughs. This home may have been kismet at first but the Conways have earned the credit due for its new found beauty. –Lauren

Photographed by Erin Conway

Image above: Erin and Matthew’s home is full of unexpected color, texture, patterns and contrast. Her goals when decorating is to create something new and beautiful and to push herself to explore past trends.

from Design*Sponge http://www.designsponge.com/2017/07/before-after-a-west-coast-renovation-that-was-meant-to-be.html

from Home Improvment http://notelocreesnitu.tumblr.com/post/162982167524